Friday, May 26, 2006

Two men who happen to work for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police fell in love and decided to get married. The media got a hold of the story, and then the bloggers followed suit. From the Canadian right, we have shock, from the American left, we have envy, and from the American right, outrage. But from Stephen Harper's Conservative government, though, we have silence. Why? Because Dear Leader won't let them talk about it.

The opposition is understandably trying to turn this into a wedge issue (shorter Scott Brison: "the Conservatives are Neanderthals!" shorter Libby Davies: "Harper should congratulate them!"), but me, I'm too busy grinning. Yes, it's unfortunate that there are elected officials who might make nasty remarks about someone else's wedding, but far more remarkable than that is the fact that if they were allowed to do so, Canadians would hold it against the Conservatives. While politicians in favour of gay marriage in my country of birth need to temper their positions or weasel out of bringing it up, while the Democratic Party is almost completely silent on any gay civil rights issues at all, our Conservative prime minister knows he needs to keep the anti-gay element in his caucus from speaking out if he wants to win the next election.

Even in a Harper-run Canada, the right-wing, anti-gay fringe can't win.